Matheson meets with the editorial board

Utah’s only Democrat in Congress, Rep. Jim Matheson, asked for a meeting with the Deseret News editorial board Tuesday. He had a lot to say about the federal budget and his role as a so-called “blue dog” Democrat — a moderate capable of finding solutions that might cross the aisle.

But, as can be expected, the topic soon switched to the election and his race again Republican Mia Love.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah

Here are some audio excerpts from that conversation. I apologize for the audio quality, which is a bit soft. That’s my fault. Next time I’ll find a better place to put the recorder. The question now, of course, is whether Mia Love will request a similar meeting.

The first clip is his answer to a question about how he plans to campaign against Love, who is getting a lot of national attention as potentially the first African-American Republican woman ever elected to Congress:

Finally, he reacts to a question from me about whether voter turnout will be an issue, and especially whether he is worried about a Mitt Romney coattail effect in a state where Romney is extremely popular:

About the Author

Jay Evensen

Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist for the Deseret News. He has 32 years of journalism experience covering politics and a variety of other assignments at news organizations ranging from United Press International in New York City to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Deseret News, where he has worked since 1986. During that time, he has won numerous local, regional and national awards. Most recently, he was given the Cameron Duncan Media Award, given annually in Washington, D.C., by the advocacy group RESULTS, to the journalist judged to have done the most to further the cause of the world's poorest people.

2 comments

VaughnJ

Matheson is till using his dogma that anything that a Republican candidate is discussing is WAY OUT THERE. Mia Love is an Intelligent, thoughtful individual who’s ideals follow the Utah Republican platform. Why does Matheson think that the Republican platform is WAY OUT THERE?

Why is Congressman Matheson painting Mia Love as “way out there”? Perhaps it has to do with her stated desire to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the U.S. Department of Education, and U.S. Department of Energy.

A true conservative takes a conservative approach. Elimination of medical care provided to millions of seniors and disabled individuals is not conservative. That is called radicalism or extremism.

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Welcome to my perspectives on the news

Jay Evensen is the Associate Editor of the Deseret News editorial page. He has 30 years of journalism experience covering politics and a variety of other assignments at news organizations ranging from United Press International in New York City to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Deseret News.